Transfoming Perceptions
by KeJae
Summary: Sam just wants to do something important, but he is sent to New York to work with the White Collar team of the FBI. Can he learn the lesson he is supposed to discover, and who is supposed to be his teacher?


**Transforming Perceptions**

* * *

The location was the White Collar office of the FBI in the city of New York.

There were two people working for the team that seemed to be slightly out of place. One was a polished con man who performed as a consulting informant, while the other was a brash young man who had been sent by certain contacts in Washington, but why, no one particularly knew.

It was interesting to watch them working. The conman worked efficiently and seemed to be enjoying what he did, but the other young man seemed to feel like he was being belittled.

Slowly the conman managed to work his way closer to the other man and they introduced themselves. Neal Caffrey was the consultant working off his prison sentence, while Sam Witwicky was apparently there to learn a lesson by order of his contacts in DC.

"What lesson do you think they are trying to teach you?" Neal asked as the older and wiser man.

"They won't tell me." Sam pouted. "What lesson can I learn from a bunch of paper pushers? I saved the world and have a medal to prove it!"

"Perhaps that's it."

"What's 'it?'" Sam snapped.

"The lesson you are to learn is the lesson you can learn from a bunch of 'paper pushers.'" Neal said as he prepared to leave for the night.

"Huh, and what could that be?" Sam slouched down into his chair in disappointment.

Stopping by the door, Neal turned and asked him a question. "When you were busy saving the world and earning your medal, did others see you as a hero, or just as some kid caught up in something bigger than himself?"

"I still get called 'kid' or Sam by the people who I have worked with." Sam sighed. He wasn't a young high school student anymore, but the term seemed to have stuck due to his being younger than everybody else.

"Exactly, and I suppose those you fought looked at you like you do these so called 'paper pushers.'" With that thought, he was out the door for the night.

No one in the office had anything else to add to that. Really, Neal had said exactly what they wanted to say.

Sliding further down into this chair, Sam thought about it until he decided to head to his hotel for the evening.

* * *

The next day Sam seemed to have a new goal. He spent a lot of time working with the agents of the office, particularly Peter, in an effort to see what lessons they could teach him.

Neal turned out to be right. By paying attention to the skills of these agents he learned diplomacy, puzzle solving, military strategy, and several other lessons as the agents happily shared their knowledge to answer any questions he had.

Still, whenever he reported the lessons he learned, he still wasn't allowed to return home.

* * *

Growing increasingly frustrated, Sam went with Neal on his day off to see if perhaps the con man might be the one he was supposed to learn from. The question was, what lesson could Neal teach him that he needed to learn?

Smiling at Sam's actions, Neal didn't seem to be upset by how Sam perceived him. "Are you getting closer to learning your lesson?"

"No, and they still won't tell me what it is." Sam sighed in frustration. He just wanted to get back to DC and be allowed to get into the work he actually wanted to do.

"Hmm, and you have been trying to learn everything you can from everybody?" Neal asked calmly.

Setting down into his chair, Sam just gave him a look. "Haven't you been paying attention? I have worked closely with every agent on the team, but I haven't given the right report yet so I'm still stuck here." By the time he had finished, he was hanging his head off of the back of his chair.

"Are you sure you have worked with every agent on the team?" Neal tested him.

"Yeah, Burke, Jones…" Sam listed off every agent on the team.

Nodding his head along with him, Neal didn't seem impressed. "For being so smart, you're still missing one."

"What?" Sam exclaimed. "That is every agent on the team!"

"That is every _FBI_ agent on the team." Neal specified.

"Who else… Wait? You specified ' _FBI'_ agent. What other agent could be on the team…" He trailed off as he watched Neal eat his lunch calmly. "You! You're considered to be mysterious as no one knows anything about you but what you have shared. If you're an agent, who are you really?"

Wiping his mouth politely with a napkin, Neal answered. "That is above your pay grade and clearance level. Before you go into how much you do know, simply knowing about Optimus and the rest of the Transformer situation does not mean you know everything or get to know anything."

Abashed, Sam didn't quite know how to react to that. He was used to being the respected 'kid' who saved the world and he liked the feeling of doing something important. Neal treated him like a hero, but he also wasn't above pointing out ways for him to be a better one. "So, you think you're supposed to be my teacher?"

"I don't think, the bosses told me what I am supposed to do." He continued eating like they were having a regular conversation.

Picking up his food, Sam put more focus into eating, but he watched Neal closely. "And what are you supposed to teach me?"

"It's not my position to determine what you learn. I just have a few things I have been ordered to point out to you. What you learn from them is your problem." Finishing up his food, Neal sat back and waited for Sam to catch up.

When he finished, Neal directed Sam to follow him.

Tagging along, Sam was curious where Neal would take him now that he had an idea as to his identity. To his disappointment though, it was just to a government building where Neal had a meeting to attend as himself, whoever that was.

While Neal left to attend to his duties, he left Sam in a front room where he was to keep himself occupied with a magazine.

Feeling rather degraded, Sam obeyed reluctantly, but not without complaint. Sighing in submission after Neal reminded him that he couldn't know the truth about him, he gave up the fight and picked up an automotive catalog to peruse while he waited.

It didn't take long though before things got exciting.

Sam was simply sitting in a chair paging through his magazine when a loud explosion alerted him to the coming action. Flipping over the chair's side, he crouched down out of sight and watched the ensuing chaos.

First, a small army of men in black climbed through the hole punched in the wall before spreading out acrossed the room. Then as they moved, they took down all of the security precautions until they had control of the space. Finally, they started yelling orders that they were to be given something called an "Intersect" so they could take over the world.

Expecting Deceptacons, Sam was surprised to hear a similar idea to their usual plans being intended by a human enemy. Suddenly, he realized something. The battle for the planet wasn't reserved for the battle with the Deceptacons, there were other enemies endeavoring to achieve the same goals.

Then to his surprise, Neal flew into the room with a flip down from above.

As he came to a stop in front of the leader of the attack, the man sneered at Neal. "You're not dead agent? How many times do we have to kill you before you stay dead and leave us to our plans?"

"At least once more." Neal answered while he quickly fought the enemy down. Despite being severely outnumbered and being fired upon at close range, Neal seemed to be unstoppable.

After the situation was under control, Sam got up from his hiding place and approached Neal. "How… how did you do that?"

Looking at him seriously, Neal answered. "Do I have to say it again?"

Realizing what was being alluded to, Sam shook his head. "I don't get to know, I get it."

Following Neal's orders, Sam returned to his magazine and perch while Neal and the other agents cleaned up the situation.

Finally, when Neal's work was done, he led Sam out the door. Heading for dinner, Neal gave him some of the answers that Sam was looking for. "Sam, you have saved the world repeatedly and died to accomplish that once. It's true that you deserve respect for you heroism and understandable that you wish to continue to do something that matters. The problem is that you don't look at life from the right perspective."

Feeling calmer in Neal's presence knowing that he understood his feelings, Sam asked. "What perspective do you suggest?"

"Remember the perspective you had when you were sent to work with our office to learn a lesson?" Neal wasn't being demeaning; he just needed Sam to think about it to make his point.

Feeling embarrassed, Sam ducked his head as he acknowledged how rude and angry he had been.

Continuing to his point, Neal said. "You thought the team was just a bunch of 'paper pushers' with nothing to teach and no importance to their work. The point I want to make, is that they too have far reaching effects; their work has been used to save the world as well. Just because you don't see the importance in something, doesn't mean it is unimportant, so sometimes you take the little things with the faith that it is helping the big picture."

With his point made, Neal refused to talk about the subject any further. They went to dinner and Neal dropped Sam off at his hotel before heading home himself.

* * *

Alone in his room, Sam contemplated what he had learned about Neal and the perspective he had shared.

Neal was an unknown hero who had also died to save the world, more than once based on the situation he had witnessed. Then, he was working as a consulting informant for what some perceive to be the lowest department of the FBI.

Suddenly understanding the point, Sam realized that just because he might not be doing some big job that was obviously heroic, didn't mean he wasn't being heroic all the same. Sometimes those who seem to be the least important or weakest, turn out to be the most valuable people of all.

* * *

When Neal walked in to work on Monday, he was glad to hear that Sam had learned his lesson and was allowed to return to DC.

* * *

Thank you for reading, reviewing, leaving kudos, following, and choosing to favorite :D

Next week I will post "Party Crasher" per request, but that is also a one shot, so the next post to follow is still up to you readers. What would you all like to see from my profile page with a list of completed works?

Also, just a note, this week we learned that Mikko (our hamster and my snuggle bug for computer work) doesn't have an ear infection. He has brain cancer and is dying, but remains in an early stage so he is only running in little circles at this point. The vet thinks a chemo medication might buy enough time for him to die more naturally, otherwise we'll eventually have to put him down to avoid him running himself to death :(


End file.
